Latin American and Caribbean Group

COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, with Mirjam de Koning, Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust, winner of the Pathfinder Award On Saturday morning, the opening plenary of the main proceedings of the UN Biodiversity Conference heard from the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and high-level officials. The afternoon plenary addressed organizational matters, and heard reports and opening statements. The President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi noted ancient Egypt’s awareness of ecosystems and the dedication of the pharaohs to nature, and stressed Egypt’s constitutional protection for nature and natural resources. Pointing out that the CBD did not manage to fully mobilize the international community to effectively preserve biodiversity due to lack of mainstreaming, he called for integration of CBD objectives across all sectors. For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).  IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference. Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Egyptian school children perform for COP 14 participants showing the importance of biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) José Octavio Tripp Villanueva, Ambassador of Mexico to Egypt, on behalf of COP 13 Presidency COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt View of the spill over room during the opening session of COP 14 Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary Abdel Fattah Khalil el-Sisi, President of Egypt A video message by Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the UN General Assembly L-R: David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary; COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt; and Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary A video message by Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General Corli Pretorius, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) Diego Ignacio Moreno, Argentina, for GRULAC Niall O'Dea, Canada Gabriele Obermayr, Austria Elena Makeyeva, Belarus Video by National Geographic Coletha Ruhamya, Rwanda Tatiana Degai, Indigenous Women's Network on Biodiversity Gadir Lavadenz, CBD Alliance Hoda Yacoub, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) L-R: Sanda Anjara Rakotomalala and Adina Arth, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) Clare Hamilton, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Kaspar Sollberger, Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing Hamdallah Zedan, Egypt 2018 Midori Prize winners CBD National Focal Point for Cameroon booth ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity booth Egyptian media interviewing COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt  

Delegates from the European Union (EU) in discussions at the contact group on Adjustments The thirtieth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol (MOP 30) convened for its final day on Friday, 9 November 2018, in Quito, Ecuador. The Budget Committee, contact groups and informal discussions met throughout the day. The High-Level Segment (HLS) convened in the morning to hear statements from heads of delegation, then adjourned for a brief resumption of the Preparatory Segment to receive updates from contact groups and informal discussions. The afternoon was devoted to contact groups and informal discussions, with the Preparatory Segment tentatively scheduled for a stocktaking session at 8:30 pm.Updates:- 7:55 pm: Plenary is rescheduled to 9:00 pm.- 9:35 pm: Preparatory Segment reconvenes.- 10:12 pm: High-Level Segment resumes to consider decisions forwarded by the Preparatory Segment.- MOP closed at 11:10 pm. IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily reports and daily web coverage from MOP 30. In addition, IISD Reporting Services will publish a summary and analysis report of the meeting in HTML and PDF.   Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page High Level Segment MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia, gavels the meeting to a close at 11:10 pm. Delegates during the adoption of the meeting report Alfredo Pérez, Director General, Environmental Quality Management, Venezuela Taefu Lemi Taefu, Associate Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Amb. Diennaryati Tjokrosuprihatono, Indonesia Laurentiu Neculaescu, State Secretary, Romania Amb. Jean Baptiste Chaurin, France Alexander Teabo, Minister of Environment, Lands and Agriculture Development, Kiribati Amb. Igar Paluan, Belarus Charles Ikeah, Nigeria Rosa Luisa Ebentretch, Ministry of Production, Peru Amb. Luigi William Ixcot Rojas, Guatemala Arsen Ryspekov, State Agency on Environment Protection and Forestry, Kyrgystan Jeanne Josette Acacha Akoha, Ministry of Life Framework and Sustainable Development, Benin Racine Kane, Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Senegal Roxanne Blesam, Executive Director, Environmental Quality Protection Board, Palau Satyendra Kumar Purkayastha, Bangladesh Ibraheem Alallan, Director, Atmospheric Safety, Syria Thelma Krug, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Marissa Gowrie, Ministry of Planning and Development, Trinidad and Tobago Didier Coulomb, International Institute for Refrigeration Avipsa Mahapatra, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) Juan Sebastián Salcedo, Ecuador Giovanni Brunelli, Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Italy Delegates during the contact group on Adjustments Alain Wilmart, Belgium, and Agustín Sánchez Guevara, Mexico, Co-Chairs of the contact group on Adjustments L-R: Alain Wilmart, Belgium; Agustin Sánchez Guevara, Mexico; Katherine Theotocatos and Flavia Barlassina, Ozone Secretariat; and Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat Delegates from the Adjustments contact group in informal consultations Delegates during the contact group on Energy Efficiency​ Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) delegates in discussions Tjekero Tweya, Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (SME), Namibia, and MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia L-R: María Barroeta, Alfredo Pérez, and Yusbelys Belsario, Venezuela The delegation from Romania The delegation from Benin The delegation from Slovakia The delegation from the Maldives The Brazilian delegation, L-R: (back row) Gabriela Lira, Alessandra Toledo, and Maria Eugênia Pulino, (front row) Magda Luduvice and Patricia Leite L-R: Gilbert Bankobeza, Ozone Secretariat; Yaqoub Almatouq, Kuwait; MOP 30 Rapporteur Bitul Zulhasni, Indonesia; Tina Birmpili, Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat; MOP 30 President Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia; Megumi Seki, Deputy Executive Secretary, Ozone Secretariat; and Martha Leyva, Ozone Secretariat Around the Venue Rajendra Shende, TERRE Policy Centre, and Amit Love, India Duncan Brack, Report Writer, and Keith Reply, ENB Delegates read the ENB The ENB team at MOP 30, L-R: Keith Ripley, US; Claudia Friedrich, Germany; Tallash Kantai, Kenya; Nadia Sohier Zaman, Canada; Diego Noguera, Colombia; and Priscila Pereira de Andrade, Brazil  

Local artwork outside the venue The preparatory segment of the Montreal Protocol MOP 30 convened for its third day on Wednesday, 7 November 2018, in Quito, Ecuador. In the morning, delegates addressed: Review of the terms of reference, composition and balance as well as fields of expertise required of the assessment panels and their subsidiary bodies; Consideration of senior expert and other nominations by parties to the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP); and Consideration of the membership of Montreal Protocol bodies for 2019. In the afternoon, the Budget Committee and contact groups met. In evening plenary, delegates heard reports back from the contact groups and forwarded a few decisions to the High Level Segment (HLS). They also considered Harmonized System customs codes for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and clorofluorocarbons (CFCs) substitutes and a draft decision on progress by the Multilateral Fund (MLF) Executive Committee (ExCom) in the development of guidelines for financing the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB). IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily reports and daily web coverage from MOP 30. In addition, IISD Reporting Services will publish a summary and analysis report of the meeting in HTML and PDF.   Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Liana Ghahramanyan, Armenia John Thompson and Luke H. Hall-Jordan, US Miruza Mohamed, Maldives, President of the Implementation Committee Annie Gabriel, Australia Delegates from Jordan, L-R: Emad Eddin Fattouh, Zaid Banyhani, and Ghazi Alodat Mikkel Sørensen, Denmark Philippe Chemouny, Canada Alain Wilmart, Belgium Abderrahim Chakour, Morocco Azra Rogović-Grubić, Bosnia and Herzegovina Tumau Herownna Neru, Samoa W. Stephen Comstock, ASHRAE, and Julian R de Bullet, environmental consultant L-R: Ping-Fei Shieh and Wen-Cheng Hu, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI); and Stephen Montzka, Scientific Assessment Panel Osvaldo Álvarez, Chile, in consultations with Lesley Dowling, Australia Gabriela Fischerova and Lucia Rosolankova, Slovakia Delegates from Australia, Canada, and the US, share a laugh during a break Guo Xiaolin, China Dan Teng’o, Ozone Secretariat, announced the the Protocol’s Ozone Heroes Campaign has been awarded the Hermes Creative Award. L-R: Helène Rochat, Topten; Gabrielle Dreyfus, Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program; and Jessica Brown, ClimateWorks Foundation Kevin Mead, Canada, and Nadia Sohier Zaman, IISD Amit Love (center), India, confers with delegates from the EU Abdulrahman Salih Hariri, Saudi Arabia, in consultations with OEWG Co-Chair Yaqoub Almatouq (right), Kuwait Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC) delegates meet informally Delegates from India, Argentina, Brazil, China, and Kuwait discuss the agenda item on guidelines The Budget Committee A view of the room during the contact group on energy efficiency Delegates discuss during the contact group on adjustments OzoneAction representatives Mazen Hussein, Lebanon; OEWG Co-Chair Yaqoub Almatouq, Kuwait; and Hasan Mubarak, Bahrain Around the Venue Members of ITRI and the delegation of the Republic of Korea  

L-R: Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair, consulting with Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat, and Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary The eighth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) opened today at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), in Rome, Italy. The Working Group is composed of up to 27 regional representatives: up to five from Europe; up to five from Asia; up to five from Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC); up to three from the Near East; up to two from North America; and up to two from the Southwest Pacific. Up to two representatives from each of the following groups may participate as observers: civil society organizations; the seed industry; farmers’ organizations; and the CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers. The Working Group heard opening statements, addressed organizational matters, and began text-based negotiations on a draft revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). Co-Chair Javad Mozafari opened the meeting, highlighting that the Treaty is crucial for food security and sustainable agriculture globally, and calling for expedited efforts to enhance its efficiency. He recalled that the Working Group elected Amb. Hans Hoogeveen (the Netherlands) by electronic means as the new Co-Chair of the Working Group, to replace former Co-Chair Bert Visser, who retired during GB 7. Co-Chair Hans Hoogeveen said that informal consultations highlighted elements of compromise on several controversial areas. ITPGRFA Secretary Kent Nnadozie expressed hope that the spirit of understanding and cooperation that prevailed during informal consultations will continue. Several participants expressed optimism about the upcoming negotiations and highlighted progress achieved so far. The Working Group then began text-based negotiations on the draft revised SMTA, focusing on the terms and conditions of the subscription system. Among other issues, participants addressed: •    the effect, coverage, and registration of subscription; •    monetary benefit-sharing, including the basis for payments, and who is obliged to pay; •    complexities arising from use of digital sequence information (DSI); •    exemptions from payments; and •    differentiated rates. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from OWG-EFMLS-8. Photos by IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page View of the opening session of the Working Group Hans Hoogeveen, Working Group Co-Chair Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat Grethe Evjen, Europe Kudzai Kusena, Africa Ali Chehade, Near East Nestor Altoveros, Asia José Valls, Latin America and the Caribbean Pierre du Plessis, Civil Society L-R: Tobias Kiene, ITPGRFA Secretariat; Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat; Hans Hoogeveen, Working Group Co-Chair; Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair; Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary; and Olivier Rukundo, ITPGRFA Secretariat Working Group drafting session Alwin Kopse, Europe Edward Hammond, Civil Society Axel Diederichsen, North America Anke Van Den Hurk, Seed Industry Guy Kastler, Farmers Organization Manrique Lucio Altavista, Latin America and the Caribbean Hans Hoogeveen and Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chairs